Of Rainbows And Wildflowers

It was relatively cool early one morning this week, so I took a walk down in the bottom pasture to see what kind of wildflowers were blooming.

The field is full of Meadow Rue and Joe Pye Weed.  It makes a striking contrast of whites and rosy-pink, with a little green mixed in from the underlying leaves and stems.

There are also yellow flowers blooming.  I’m not sure what they are, but they sure do shine in the shadows.

There are other splashes of yellow  mixed in with the taller plants, with tall goldenrods here and there.

A lot of the bottom pasture is a little boggy, as spring water oozes out of the hillside.  This makes a perfect environment for Cardinal Flowers (Lobelia cardinalis).

I love these plants, and so do the hummingbirds.  It’s kind of hard to get a good picture though, as the camera doesn’t want to lock in on the red and the edges can be kind of blurred.

Around the outer edges of the pasture, there are patches of Jewel Weed (Impatiens capensis). 

The juice from this plant is supposed to be a good rememdy for poison ivy, but I’ve never tried it.

A whole bunch of these yellow flowers grow on a bank near our pond.

In fact, I used them as a background for a picture of Ellie in her 2007 calendar.

There are also morning glories growing on a hillside near the pond.

Near the mailbox, there are some wild blue morning glories.

Of course the butterflies enjoy morning glories, and I usually see a few near them, like this Pearl Crescent Butterfly.

Then yesterday evening when The Farmer came home, he told me to come outside, because he saw a rainbow as he was driving home.

While I was outside with my camera, I took another picture of all the Meadow Rue and Joe Pye Weed in the bottom pasture, because the evening light gave it a different coloration.

I thought the colors were more vibrant and the white showed up better.  You can also see some purple Ironweed (Vernonia altissima) in the lower lefthand corner.

It’s a lot of fun looking around the farm for wildflowers!

We Made It To Manitoba!

We did indeed make it to Denver, then on to Manitoba.  We weren’t impressed with the service of United however.  I tried many different ways to get seat assignments ahead of time, but it just didn’t work.  Not at the United desk in the main terminal, not at the desk at the gate our plane left from.

In fact, the guy manning the desk at the gate didn’t show up until maybe half an hour before the plane was due to leave, and there were at least a couple dozen people that needed help with their ticketing.  It was a mess.

At least the planes left on time, and arrived on time, so although we got to Manitoba later than originally planned, we did get there!

 The temperature is about 30 degrees cooler here!  We’ve been enjoying the milder weather here, and longer days.  And of course, visiting!

Yesterday we just hung out around the house.  There is a big field planted with soybeans behind the house.

On behind the field are more fields that were used for hay.

Today there was a family wedding here, so our 4-year-old granddaughter, Ellie, had her hair done for the first time.  We went to a park to get some pictures of her.  They had some beautiful beds of flowers.

I realize I’m biased, but I think our our little princess outshone the flowers.

Ellie and The Farmer/Grandpa took a break and sat on a bench for a while.

And lastly, with a good lesson for us all. . .

. . . Always take time to stop and smell the flowers!